Crime & Safety

Police Arrest Suspects After Home Invasions, Car Chase

After two home invasions and a car chase, two suspects are in jail. Police say a third suspect, the getaway driver from the first home invasion, is still at large.

A 911 call about a home invasion around 1:50 a.m. Sunday was just the beginning a series of events that night, which led St. Petersburg Police on a 20-minute car chase that ended with two men getting arrested. 

Police arrested 29-year-old Anthony James Stewart of St. Petersburg and 27-year-old Maurice Emmanuel Climes of Clearwater and charged them with 16 felonies including carjacking, home invasion, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft, among others. 

According to the police report, officers responded to a suspicious call from 1927 36th Ave. N. Sunday morning in which a male caller told police he received a text from his girlfriend at this location stating she was "being robbed."

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Police said the caller said he saw movement inside the home. He called 911 and
while officers were en route, he advised he could see inside and his girlfriend was tied up.

A mother and her two children were inside the home at 36th Avenue North. One child, a 9-year-old female, awoke during the robbery and was forced by the suspects to sit down next to her 33-year-old mother who had been bound with electrical cord. The other child, an 11-year-old male, never woke up during the robbery. None of the victims were hurt. 

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As officers arrived to the victims’ home, police said they observed the two suspects run from the home and then get into a vehicle waiting outside. Police pursued the vehicle, until the suspects fled from the vehicle in the 4700 block of 13th Avenue North. 

While searching for the suspects, according to the police report, the suspects committed another Home Invasion at 4730 15th Ave. N.

The two adult victims were asleep when police said the two suspects kicked in their front door. One suspect came into their bedroom demanding the keys to their vehicle. The female victim grabbed their 7-day-old infant, her phone, and hid in her closet to call the police.

Police said the male victim tried getting the suspects out of his house, but when this did not work, he grabbed his gun. The male victim ran after the suspects and almost shot them as they stole his vehicle.

Officers observed the victim's vehicle drive off recklessly from this location and got behind the vehicle thinking the suspects had just stolen another vehicle. A pursuit was initiated of this vehicle, which continued for 20 minutes and spanned several cities including Pinellas Park, Lealman and Kenneth City. 

The suspect, according to police, bailed in front of the Applebee's on Park Boulevard in the Park Place Shopping Center (4000 block). One suspect ran to an occupied vehicle in the parking lot and attempted to carjack that vehicle before several officers apprehended him.

Both suspects were taken into custody at this location.

Police say a third suspect, the getaway driver from the first home invasion, is still at large.

There were no injuries in any of Sunday's events. Four guns, two of which were assault rifles, were recovered from the first vehicle pursued.

Climes has an extensive criminal history. According to Pinellas County Jail records, Climes' previous offenses include resisting arrest, aggravated assault of an officer (twice), trafficking in cocaine, leaving the scene of an accident and making false 911 calls. 

Stewart's arrest records include, fleeing police, possession of controlled substances, residential burglary, felon in possession of firearm and multiple driving with suspended license offenses. 


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